Submission: The Persian Jokes Were Never Funny

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I fell in love with UCLA’s Jewish community the very first time I stepped into Hillel. It was warm, welcoming and familiar — just like the tight-knit community I had recently left behind at my Jewish high school.

But after listening to a number of offensive jokes about Persian Jews at Sunday night’s Mr. Hillel talent show, I was reminded once again of a painful truth I have come to understand in my two years at UCLA: As a Persian student, a significant part of this Jewish community does not truly love and respect me back.

To be clear, Mr. Hillel is an incredible philanthropic effort, and every student who put in countless hours preparing for the event deserves genuine praise. I understand that the offense was likely unintentional. Yet, I am disappointed and disheartened that my Jewish friends who planned the event, Ashkenazi and Persian alike, allowed anti-Persian sentiment to make it on to Ackerman Grand Ballroom’s stage. For an event centered on tikkun olam (repairing the world), this stings with irony.

The first offense came in a sketch that parodied The Real Housewives franchise, in which a character complained to his friends: “Ugh, shul [synagogue] was so crowded today. So many Persians.”

This joke too closely mirrors actual prejudices held historically (and to an extent contemporarily) by Ashkenazi synagogue congregations that resisted the arrival of Persians after the Iranian revolution — something my parents and grandparents have told me much about. The offense was even greater because the line was delivered by a non-Persian student.

When a Persian contestant proceeded to raise the stereotype of ostentatious Persian culture by stating he bought his 12-year-old daughter a car for her Bat-Mitzvah, again I cringed.

Finally, in a parody of MTV Cribs that gave viewers a tour of the Hillel building, the video introduced several Ashkenazi contestants with funny descriptors, such as “Wears socks with Sperry’s.” Two of the Persian students, on the other hand, were introduced merely as “Persian.”

When a third, Israeli student was mislabeled as Persian, he looked down at the name of my ethnicity with sheer disgust.

There was a time when I internalized the racism of my Ashkenazi peers and thought these jokes were funny. In fact, I still appreciate a good Persian joke when it is made by a Persian and delivered to a group of Persians. But elevating these distasteful remarks to a platform in front of hundreds of non-Persian Jews reinforces the idea that it’s okay for them to say it, too.

And say it, they do. Jewish students have asked me why, if I am truly a Persian woman, I do not have a beard. Jewish students have dismissed me as a potential donor for a charity event because “Persians don’t donate.” Jewish students have assumed I am a transfer student from SMC, an assumption (wrongfully) laden with stereotypes of laziness and academic dishonesty. This kind of racism is by no means exclusive to the Jewish community at UCLA — I experienced similar interactions at my elementary school, my high school and in the greater Los Angeles community.

I am tired of Ashkenazi Jewish friends making derogatory comments about Persians, only to turn to me and tell me I am an exception. I am not an exception. In countless ways, my fellow Persian students and I have been ostracized, exoticized and fetishized. We have been excluded, minimized and actively “othered.”

The Persian Jewish community at UCLA should never be reduced to an ethnic label. We are made up of honors students, writers, dancers, student government officers, researchers and activists. The fact that we are Jewish, though, should be enough.

The Persian jokes were never funny. It’s time our community stopped laughing.

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I am a persian jewish bruin and I attended Mr. Hillel with all my friends and fellow persians. I and almost every persian I witnessed (granted this is based on what I saw) found the jokes and playful stereotypes to be absolutely hilarious and all in good fun. In fact, in my experience and the experiences shared to me by almost every persian I know, the persian community deeply enjoys it when a lot of these stereotypes are portrayed in playful ways because we can all relate to it. I found nothing to be offensive and neither did anyone else I know. So I think it is a misrepresentation to propose that the jokes were offensive or “not funny” and present those claims as facts and inherent truths. Maybe you just didnt find them funny and the portrayals did not sit right with you personally. In that case you should make that abundantly clear in your article and also note that just everyone has different experiences. So for you to have the reaction that you did is completely justified and warranted. For you to write about it is also justified and warranted. But for you to paint the event as anti-persian, to present the humor at the show as targeted and inherently offensive, and to try to make the case that this event represents a larger systematic agenda that is against the persian jewish community….well thats ignorant and offensive to me 😡

Nate, although I appreciate your opinion, i do not necessarily agree with it. I did in fact attend Mr. Hillel and although some jokes were humorous, some were extremely distasteful. Ms. Kamran is speaking in regards to the fact that these slurs and comments have been prolonged for way to long in the jewish community as a whole. I appreciate Ms. Kamran’s comments because she sheds light to a topic that is never spoken about and is simply brushed under the rug. Jokes that target any race or any ethnicity is racist, ethically unjust and should stop!

95% of everything Ashkenazis and Persians do are exactly the same. You’re creating this divide that doesn’t exist. My whole life, I grew up with Persians never once thinking there was an actual divide. When I think of Persians, I think of them as successful, educated, doctors, dentists, etc. who eat great food and live valuable, family-oriented life styles. This article tries to focus on the differences, creating a war between Ashkenazis and Persians (like no other factions of Jews exist)…when there is really no conflict. All of Mr. Hillel’s jokes were in good taste, and I’d be shocked if the vast majority of the Persian community didn’t agree with me on that.

This is a ridiculous comment. If you are not Persian, you are not allowed to deny the existence of this conflict. Your personal thoughts are not representative of the Ashkenazi community’s general attitudes, and the fact that you personally have not witnessed it does not give you the right to deny it exists for others. Racist jokes are never in good taste. Your mindset is the reason why racism still exists.

They jokes were not racist. Persian Jews and Ashkenazi Jews are the exact same race. As someone who is half-Sephardi and half-Ashkenazi, I have never once seen an actual difference between the two besides minute interpretations and minute behaviors.

But, if you want to talk about a divide and about real oppression, I’d be the first to note that it was my Askenazi side that lived in ghettos and gassed to death. But because I don’t care about the divide (because it’s not there), it’s irrelevant. But again, if the division is relevant to you, you should acknowledge that.

You are bandwagoning on “intersectionality”. Because Persian Jews are darker, you believe they are oppressed. That is ridiculous. Persian Jews are the most successful and most loved “section” of Jews (That is, if you even want to note sections. Again, we are literally the exact same race). To anyone not Jewish, we are exactly the same. I don’t know why us Jews are creating this divide (That again, DOES NOT EXIST!)

Why would I focus on the struggles of community that is not mine? If a member of another category of Jewry speaks up about their experience, they will have my full support. I don’t have to speak about all divides; it’s a perfectly reasonable choice to focus on one.

It took me 30 years to realize that I had been complicit in the marginalization of my own community. I am impressed both with your writing and your ability to be so aware. The racism is so pervasive that many of us don’t even know it’s happening and are allowing it to perpetuate. Bravo to you.

Treatment of Persian Jews in Los Angeles is just a reflection of their own behavior. When the community accepts others into itself, maybe then they can be accepted. I am in the community, and it is full of bigotry, backwardness, and intolerance. The racism is not subtle, it is out on full display.

Do I need to remind you all the nicknames Persian students in UCLA have for Asians? Blacks? I can go on.

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